The Obligitory Changes
by Storm-and-Faith
Summary: I supposed, as we crossed the broken stone floor, that everyone had changed, whether they fought physically, or in spirit in this war. We had all given so much, just to see justice and peace once again. And we were all different people because of it. KBOW


The war had changed everyone

War changed everyone. We knew it would change us before it began. As the six of us stood in the Entrance Hall, staring at those huge oak doors, just waiting. Our wands were drawn, heartbeats racing. This shouldn't happen. It should never have happened. It should not happen again.

The boy next to me looked pale, scared … older than his years. I supposed I must look the same. His strained eyes met mine, and it was as if he was looking into my soul. His eyes bore the same fear as I felt. It was as if we were both feeling immense pain. Our eyes disconnected, and stared at the ominous dark wood before us. The War would begin soon.

The four others stared determinedly in front of them. Angelina's hand shook, I noticed. Alicia's jaw was set. Lupin stared determinedly at the door. McGonagall looked older than she had ever before.

It shouldn't be happening.

His voice bellowed through the grounds. I shuddered at the sound. They were coming.

A crash sounded outside the doors. The remainder of the teachers were already fighting. They were our guard. Shouts of spells and explosions crashed through the air.

The doors shook suddenly. They were breaking in. With a thunderclap, the doors burst open, Death Eaters flowing forth. Spells were shot and rebounded, and more were shot. Shouts filled the air, and spells clashing against the wall screamed in the Hall. I aimed and fired at as many Death Eaters I could see, missing all but one, who fell to the floor. At that moment I hadn't realised I had killed someone. I continued to fire at every dark wizard, and dodged every Killing Curse. Adrenaline pumped through me, ridding me of every coherent thought. All I knew was to defend myself, my friends, and the Castle.

Flashes of red and purple and green blurred before my eyes, wands slashing at the air so fast, it was impossible to see them. McGonagall fought with a cloaked intruder, duelling as fast as she could. Lupin had been hit. He was lying on the floor. I couldn't see if he was alive or not. I couldn't think about that. Survival. I had to survive.

Oliver had disappeared. I looked around quickly for him. But the inevitable happened. A spell had hit me, and a three inch deep gash sliced its way across my stomach. My body crashed to the floor.

When I woke, no sounds erupted around me … no light flashed before my eyes … no bodies were falling.

Was the battle over?

I lay for a while longer, staring at the high dark ceiling of the Entrance Hall. My lower half had gone numb.

I heard footsteps cross the stone floor.

"Katherine? Katherine!" Oliver fell to the floor beside me. He placed his hand on my cheek, and the other held my hand. I opened my eyes and looked up at him.

"What happened? Are we safe?" I whispered.

Without a word, Oliver gathered me up in his arms.

"I thought … I thought -!" He sobbed, and held me tight. Without knowing why, I began to cry too. "Katie, I thought I'd lost you," he whispered, still sobbing slightly.

I sobbed harder, and buried my face in his torn shirt.

"Voldemort is dead, Katie. We're safe. He's gone for good. We're safe." He drew out of the hug, and looked down at me. His eyes widened as he scanned my lower torso. "Katie, you're bleeding! Oh Merlin, you're _bleeding_!"

I looked down at myself and my eyebrows shot up in surprise. My stomach was soaked in blood, and a nasty cut stretched across my waistline.

Before I realised what was happening, Oliver had gathered me in his arms again, and he was running into the Great Hall. I became dizzy as he started shouting words I couldn't understand.

"Katie, you'll be alright. I need to go and find survivors. Don't look anywhere else but up, okay?" I wasn't sure if it was Oliver who had set me down on the bed, and was whispering in my ear. But I felt I was too weak to even open my eyes. My head was spinning.

"Why?" my voice cracked.

"Just don't look, Kates. Madame Pomfrey will heal you up as best she can, and I'll get back as soon as I can."

I could tell something awful had happened. Perhaps the remaining Death Eaters were chained up in the centre of the hall? Oliver obviously didn't want me to see it, so I nodded. He grasped my hand for a moment, and then let go. I heard his footsteps retreating out of the hall.

"Oh, this _war_," Madame Pomfrey muttered as she bustled up to my bed. "Are you doing alright, Miss Bell?" she asked me as she lifted my shirt to get a better look at my stomach.

"I've been better," I said, wincing as she touched the wounded skin. The pain had caught up on me.

"Quite a nasty cut. It might leave a scar."

I nodded in understanding, the shut my eyes again, pain shooting through me as she trained her wand on the wound. It felt like I was being sewn from the inside without any anaesthetic or pain relieving spell.

"That's the best I can do for now, Miss Bell. Stay here for a while and rest."

I nodded, still not opening my eyes.

A few minutes passed until Oliver returned, panting. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. The smile he gave didn't reach his eyes.

"She's healed you," he stated, looking at my stomach. I looked down too. There was an ugly scar stretching across me. I looked back up at him.

"Oliver, you're bleeding," I said, noticing that his head and shoulder, which were seeping blood.

He touched his hand to his forehead and nodded. "I'll be fine, Kates."

"So … why am I not allowed to look around?"

Oliver ran a hand through his hair and stood closer to the bed. "I didn't want you to see it."

"See what?" I whispered, looking up at him with tears in my eyes.

"The … the fatalities, Kates."

My eyes widened. "What? How many?" I asked urgently. His hands held my face and he knelt beside the bed.

"Too many," he said darkly. "But … oh, Kates. Fred … he …"

"No!" I said pleadingly. "_No!" _I gasped. Tears filled my eyes. "No."

"Oh, Katie," he said, tears filling his own eyes. He drew me into his arms.

Fred was gone. He couldn't be. He just _couldn't_. What about Angelina? What about the baby? And _George_.

"Who else?" I sobbed.

"Lupin … he … and Tonks … oh, so many, Katie. I'm so glad you're safe. You were … if you had been -"

He cut himself off with a sob.

I sobbed with him. It was all too much to bear.

"Miss Bell, Mr Wood, are you both alright?"

We both turned, wiping tears away, to look at Professor McGonagall, who stood at the foot of the bed. She looked tired and battered.

We both nodded.

"Well done both of you. What happened to you, Katie?" she asked. It was the first time she'd ever used my given name. My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"She was cursed. She had a gash on her stomach," Oliver answered for me, pointing to my stomach.

McGonagall shook her head. "There were too many injured … too many killed."

We both nodded again.

"Well, I'll leave you to rest," she said, and briskly strode off.

Oliver turned to look back at me. "Are you sure you're alright now?" he asked, checking me over once more.

"I'm fine, Oliver. Thank you." I took his hand and swung my legs off of the bed, and made to stand up. Oliver stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"You're too young to see -"

"I'm fine, Oliver."

He fixed me with a steady stare, straight into my eyes. I stared right on back.

"I don't want you to see the dead, Katie."

"I need to see who's gone. I need to see Fred."

He cupped my face with both his hands. "Such beautiful eyes shouldn't see the likes of it. Ever."

I took his hands from my face and stood up, making my way around the curtain at the front of the hall, blocking the injured in beds from the view of the rest of the hall. As soon as I stepped around the grey cloth, I gasped, and fell back into Oliver, who caught me and kissed the side of my head.

So many … so, so many bodies lay down the middle of the hall, side by side, totally at peace, looking like some kind of sinister army.

People crowded around loved ones, tears in their eyes. I saw the Weasley family crowded around a body on the floor. Fred.

I slipped out of Oliver's arms and took a few steps away from the make-shift ward. I watched as Mrs Weasley wept, as Mr Weasley stared, pale faced at his son, as their remaining children knelt next to their brother, holding his hands, or brushing his brilliantly flaming red hair out of his, now expressionless face. His hair was the only one that was still blazing with the same intensity as it always had. The rest of the Weasley's hair looked dirty brown in comparison to their deceased relative.

I sighted George kneeling at his twin's head, whispering, tears sliding down his face.

I covered my mouth with my hand, holding a sob in. Oliver saw this evidently, as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

I tore my eyes away from the Weasley's and looked a little further down the row of the dead. Lupin and Tonks. They had just had a baby. The poor child would never know his parents, the wonderful people that they had been.

I closed my eyes to the rest.

"Katie, are you alright?" Oliver said softly.

I turned around so my back was facing the hall, and covered my face with my hands. Oliver's arms wrapped around me and held me to his chest.

"I warned you," he said quietly, stroking my blonde hair down my back.

"I had to see …"

He kissed the side of my head again and held me for a while, until I pulled away and blinked away tears.

"I'll have to go home soon … mum'll be worried …"

"I'll take you … if you want."

I wiped my cheeks with my hands to get rid of the tearstains, and gave him a faint smile. "You need to go back to your family too, Oliver. They'll be drastically worried about you, too."

"I want to make sure you get home alright first."

I shook my head at him, still smiling. "Such a gentleman you are, Mr Wood." He bowed extravagantly, and offered his hand to me. I laughed quietly, taking the hand offered.

"Thank you, Oliver," I said softly. He turned his smiling face to me.

"What for, Kates?"

"Looking after me."

He smiled again, and started off in the direction of the entrance hall, past all of those dead bodies and grieving families. Our hands clasped together, both fearful of what could be on the other side of the door.

Oliver pushed the heavy door aside, and we both stepped out. My eyes scanned the room quickly, for Death Eaters, I suppose. Of course, I knew the Death Eaters must be gone, as people were not fighting anymore. It must have been a reflex. After all, there had been a war here. And it was easy to tell that by looking around the Entrance Hall.

The staircase up to the Grand staircase was smashed about half-way up, so that there was a large chunk missing, which was currently strewn across the stone-flagged floor in pieces and dust. The glass of the stained-glass window lay in amongst the rubble, and also ruby, emerald, sapphire, and citrine gemstones, which had escaped their glass in the struggle. The house point hourglasses were in shards around the bases of them. The door – the strong, hard oak door, with metal locks and supports – was cracked, and part of one was missing. The whole hall was devastated.

Oliver's grip on my hand tightened. He must have heard my small intake of breath.

"Come on," he said softly, beginning to walk around the side of the Entrance Hall, past the rubble, and glass, and jewels. I shuffled my feet behind him, still staring at the smashed-up place I used to call my second home. It was beautiful back then, with gleaming floors and coloured sunlight streaming across the room. It was much different now. _Too_ _much_ different.

I supposed, as we crossed the broken stone floor, that everyone had changed, whether they fought physically, or in spirit in this war. We had all given so much, just to see justice and peace once again. And we were all different people because of it. Obligatory changes. No one could be in a war, or see a war, or even _hear about_ a war, and go unchanged.

Oliver and I stepped out into the dusk light. His hand tightened around mine once again, but for a different reason. The grounds were unchanged. I had _heard_ the struggle outside these doors, and yet … nothing was out of place.

"It's been cleared up … I helped. There were so many dead out here." Oliver's voice shook slightly, but he steeled himself, and started down the stone steps, away from the main doors. I clasped his hand tightly, trailing slightly behind.

"Are you okay, still, Kates?"

I didn't answer for a moment. And my hesitation alerted Oliver. He stopped us both at the foot of the steps and put his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye. "Katie?"

"I'm alright … a little overwhelmed, maybe. But I think everyone is."

He didn't seem to believe me, and kept on looking at me expectantly.

"To be honest, Oliver, I think I should be the one worrying about _you_."

His brow furrowed at this and dropped his hands from my shoulders. "I'm fine, Katie."

I placed a palm on his cheek. "Thank you for looking after me, Oliver, but you don't have to make sure I'm okay every second. You're acting very strangely."

H e took my hand that was slowly caressing his cheek and held it. "You were too innocent to see all that. I'm worried about you."

I smiled at him and placed my hands on his shoulders, steadying myself so I could reach up and kiss his cheek. I pulled away, and took his hand again. "We'd better get home."

Oliver looked at me for a minute, something darkening behind his eyes, before he pulled me to him and placed his lips on mine. It only took me a second to understand what was going on, and I kissed him back, hands on his shoulders again, reaching up so he didn't have to stoop so much. His hands found my waist, pulling my hips so that they were against his. A few lust-filled minutes passed before we pulled apart, gazing at each other – me, curiously; him, inquiringly.

I would have smiled at him. But with what had happened around me still lingering in the wind, it felt wrong to show any happiness at all.

Neither of us answered the other's gaze. We both just kept on regarding each other. My eyes scanning his features: his messed hair; his bleeding forehead; his questioning eyes. Every single thing about him was perfect. But I didn't love him like I knew he loved me. I _did_, however, love him very much. Oliver was the only person in the world that I could tell every little thing about me to. He had been my confidant … my best friend … my secret love. But no love could ever surmount to the love Oliver supposedly had for me. And I could see that in his eyes as he stared into mine at that moment. He loved me with every fibre of his being, every second of his life, every intake of his breath.

Oliver loved me too much.

Angelina and Alicia had told me that Oliver had feelings for me the day he finished Seventh year. It was too late.

But this was the first time since that day five long years ago that I had seen Oliver. Not even a letter. And yet, here we were. In lovers embrace.

"We need to go home," I said softly, breaking our eye contact, and stepping back from his form.

"Katie, I -" He abruptly halted his speech as soon as my eyes met mine again. He looked away and kept on. "I owe you an explanation as to - … well - … why I - …"

"Why you kissed me?"

Oliver glanced at me and nodded.

"I'm sure I already know, Oliver."

His eyes connected with mine properly.

"You've seen too many people leave this world tonight, and you think this might be your only chance."

Oliver nodded once.

"It won't be your only chance, Oliver. The War is over. We're safe again."

"It isn't just the War," Oliver said quickly. "I haven't seen you for five years, Katie, and every single feeling I had for you that I thought had flickered out just burst into flames. I might not see you ever again."

My eyes shifted to the floor. I couldn't look into his burning eyes any longer.

"You could've seen me whenever you wanted, and still can. It's always been that way."

"I wanted to forget the feelings. You were so young … back then, anyway. I can hardly say that now, what with you being eighteen, and looking very much grown up."

My eyes flashed to his again.

Oliver fell silent, and I stayed so, and began walking towards Hogsmeade again.

We reached the gates. Oliver took my hand before I could apparate myself home.

He apparated, still holding my hand. We reappeared outside my mum and dad's home. Oliver turned me around so we were face to face once again.

"I'll write, Katie. I really will this time. I love you. With all my heart, I love you."

I looked up at him with tears nearly escaping my eyes. "I love you too, Oliver. I always have, and I always will."

He cupped my face in his hands and gave me a faint smile. "I've waited so long for you to say that Katie, and hearing you say it was worth every second of the agony."

The tears spilled from my eyes and I laughed. "So sentimental, Oliver. But I love you for it."

He smiled wider and kissed my forehead.

"You'd better get home," I said. He nodded and dropped his hands from my face.

"Goodbye, Kates," he said softly.

"Goodbye, Oliver," I smiled, making my way up the garden path to my parent's house. I turned around at the door just in time to see Oliver disapparate on the spot, smiling at me.

War changes people. But sometimes that change is for the better. Sometimes.

_Storm-and-Faith xxx_


End file.
